


Brothers

by jaemnoya



Series: Graduation [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Gen, NCT Dream - Freeform, Oneshot, part 2 isnt up yet please dont ask!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 18:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14878694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaemnoya/pseuds/jaemnoya
Summary: Graduation isn't just about flowers and farewells, but the tears that come with it and the memories to be remembered.





	Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> inspired from submissions on 280dream in twitter
> 
> https://twitter.com/280dream/status/999085104382164992  
> https://twitter.com/280dream/status/1003655550184259584
> 
> im sorry if it gets a crappy at the end the first half and the second half were written in two different days.
> 
> thank you for checking this out and enjoy reading!
> 
> (^^^^ this is short but let us not prolong the angst)

To a student, graduation day is a day of celebration of achievements. It is a grand event to give praise to the students who were able to reach the finish line. It is a day of pictures, tears, bouquets, group hugs, and promises. It is also a symbol of a new beginning, where paths that took the same direction finally diverge. It is a memorable day for all.

However, the term ‘graduation’ isn’t as pleasant to the ears of the younger members of NCT. The word leaves a bitter feeling to NCT Dream, and as days pass by, the feeling lingers more and evolves to become painful.

They tried not to ponder over it, and opted to think positively. Whenever possible, they would hang out together and create memories. It doesn’t have to involve leaving the four walls of Dream’s dorm; it could be just them jamming to the radio or watching a movie marathon of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and shout at every action scene. It could be playing a board game, or even just simply lying around and talking nonsense. They weren’t anything big, but the little moments they shared seemed to heal their pained hearts the most.

Still, there were days that the thought was too strong to push away, and the boys sometimes couldn’t help but bring up the distasteful topic. On those days, the stress and tension are too high for the boys.

“We’ll continue to do this even when Mark hyung-”

“Jeno, don’t even continue.”

“We can’t keep on avoiding it, can we, Jaemin?!”

Jeno sighed loudly, then buried his face onto his palms. He didn’t mean to raise his voice, but he was frustrated. He mumbled a soft apology and Jaemin only nodded, covering his face as tears threatened to fall. He started breathing heavily, and Donghyuck knew what was up. He immediately went to Jaemin’s side and pat his back. Renjun did the same.

“Don’t bottle it up.”

Jaemin started shaking, then he sobbed loudly. He had a lot of regrets - not being able to do his best during Chewing Gum era, being away for more than a year, and even making some minor mistakes when he came back - and he wished he could make up for them before Mark was going to graduate.

One by one, the boys let down their tears of frustration. When the graduation system was introduced to them, they didn’t think much about it. They will still be under the same group, so they didn’t think it would be much of a problem. However, as they spent time together, they realized it was not about separating from members, but rather separating from your brothers. The bond they developed in the moments they spent together, whether on stage or behind the scenes, was something they didn’t expect to grow that strong.

Mark took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from crying further. He went over to Jisung and Chenle and comforted them. He knew that among all of them, they were the ones hurting the most. They will be the ones to witness all of them leaving, especially Jisung being the youngest. The tears and crying died down, and soon all of them were just breathing heavily and trying to calm themselves down. They couldn’t talk about it, not today.

  
  


It was the day of their final performance, and it was time for their last song. Mark couldn’t believe it - how could time pass by too fast? He took deep breaths, calming himself down. At that moment, he wished time could stop for him. However, it didn’t and ‘Go’ started playing.  _ Last performance with Dream; might as well give my all. _

During the performance, their moves were in sync more than ever. The energy from their dance was amazing, the fans almost forgot to do the fanchant. They did their best to sing to the microphone even if they weren’t entirely required to sing live. Jeno gave his loudest yells, Jaemin did an amazing job in singing and rapping, Jisung aced the dance and his part, Chenle’s singing was flawless, Renjun sounded better compared to the studio version, Donghyuck hit his high note perfectly, and Mark gave off a powerful charisma on his rap.

At the last line of his rap, “Dreamers shout back”, the six boys shouted a quick, “Yeah!” before Donghyuck started singing. It was something they don’t normally do, and they made it extra loud and clear. Mark almost stopped dancing but fortunately he was only a beat late. From that moment onwards, the cool and fierce expression on Mark’s face left. He seemed like he wanted to cry, but he knew he couldn’t let his tears out just yet.

It was the final part of the song, and Mark made his way to the center. Suddenly, everything felt slow motion to him. He felt like he could hear everything, and when he snapped out of it, they were already posing for the end.

They bowed to the fans, and the handheld mics were passed onto them. They took their time to breathe and process everything. Mark felt his hand shaking, and Donghyuck immediately held his hand to calm him down. Jeno reached for his back to pat it. Mark took a deep breath, then started.

“Two years have passed by too quickly. When I look back, I sometimes think I should’ve done better or I could’ve visited and hung out. I have these worries. However, simply regretting won’t do anything so I decided to simply look forward and create memories with Dream.”

He felt his voice was going to crack any minute, and he didn’t want to cry just yet.

“I don’t think… I can speak any longer because I could feel these tears - ah seriously they’re going to fall soon - so I’m going to make this quick and ask my brothers one last request.”

He looked at the rest of the Dream members.

“Okay, guys. For the last time… Everyone, please join us.”

He took a deep breath. He wanted this one as loud as they can, as powerful as they could, because that’s Dream’s biggest point.

“YO DREAM!”

“LET’S DO IT, FIGHTING!”

Mark was amazed. He was expecting it to be loud, but the words were so clear. It was like one loud voice. The unity between the fans and them overwhelmed him. He couldn’t fight back the tears, and soon everyone in the room was tearing up.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t want to cry because… I know you guys will too but… I can’t help it. I enjoyed these two years so much, I always wish it would never end. I want to thank NCTzens for supporting Dream all the time... for welcoming us even if we were too young in other’s eyes... for waiting for Jaeminnie... I want to thank Dream for giving me an amazing experience, for being… my friends, for being my brothers... I love you so much... Let’s work together again in the future.”

His voice cracked so many times, he stopped at many parts to calm himself down. The rest of Dream were crying in their place, frustrated at this event. The fans were also crying, and none of them were too strong to comfort the graduate member.

Jisung walked over to Mark and hugged him, then the rest of them followed for a group hug. The room was filled with sounds of sobbing and bawling, and for minutes, it stayed like that. As time passed, the crying died down and bottles of water was passed to the members. Their eyes and noses were red, some of them still wiping the tears that continued to fall. Mark lifted up his microphone and held it up for a long time. He wanted to speak, but the feeling was too overwhelming. When he finally breathed properly, he spoke.

“Everyone, please continue loving NCT Dream even when Jisung has graduated. For the last time, this has been Mark of NCT Dream.”

  
  


“You’ve messaged Taeyong-hyung?”

“Yeah… He told us to be good and not to stay up too late.”

“Sounds about right.”

Mark laughed at Chenle’s comment. Their leader, albeit his cold image, had a caring heart. He would send messages, mostly supportive kinds, to the group chat, at the weirdest hours since he would sometimes stay up for various reasons. It was not a new thing for them to read something in the lines of “Don’t sleep late!” from their leader.

The rest of the car ride was silent, and the feeling of it was a mix of comfortable and awkward. Nobody wanted to speak, so they were thankful no one is initiating any conversation. At the same time, most of their car rides were lively unless they are asleep, but they’re not.

When they arrived at the dorm, they silently made their way inside. One by one, they changed into their pajamas and within an hour, all of them have gathered in the living room. Mark said he wanted to have a private moment with them, but ten minutes has passed and yet he spoke nothing but a sigh.

“Thank you.”

Mark finally started.

“Seriously, I never thought I would have so much fun with you guys. I don’t have younger siblings - you guys all know that - so it’s amazing for me to suddenly have six younger siblings. It honestly didn’t feel like gaining younger siblings because you guys barely respect me!”

They laughed, but didn’t deny it.

“Seriously! But I didn’t hate it. I actually prefer it that way. It felt like gaining 6 bros - well, I really did but that’s outside the point!”

Mark felt a little embarrassed as he couldn’t form his words correctly. He couldn’t get his message across.

“You’re not usually like this.”

Jaemin commented, and the others voiced their agreement.

“Shut up! I’m getting emotional, okay.”

Mark followed it up with something that is the vocal equivalent of a keyboard smash, and he sighed loudly.

“I don’t want us to cry again, because I’m not going to die-”

“Oh, really? You’re not? Tears wasted.”

Donghyuck wiped a fake tear and Jisung and Chenle repeated it, laughing afterwards. Renjun let out a disappointed sound.

“Why are you all so rude to me?”

“Because you’re not our leader anymore!”

Jeno replied cheerfully, then just realized what he said and quieted down. The rest just awkwardly laughed it off, Mark being the best at it, then he continued.

“Anyway, things will be the same, just no labels.”

“And MV filming.”

“And comebacks.”

“And photoshoots.”

“And dance practices.”

“And concerts.”

“And fanmeets.”

“And-”

“Yo Dream!”

“Let’s do it, fighting!”

Mark stared at them, amused at how they immediately responded even when he cut them off. They looked at each other, then laughed.

“I’m so going to miss that.”

Jeno commented.

“Not when Renjun will continue it.”

Renjun looked at Mark with disbelief in his eyes.

“I can’t. Jeno would fit it better-”

“Jeno jam? Nah. It’s for you, Renjun.”

As much as Jeno wanted to argue for slander, Renjun’s tiny smile and nod made him stop himself and just nod in agreement. Silence enveloped the room as they enjoyed their last moment together. The time was slowly getting near to midnight, and they wished it would arrive later than they want it to be.

“We’ll always be together, right?”

Mark snorted.

“Way to ruin the mood, No jam.”

“Duh.”

Donghyuck answered.

“Why shouldn’t we be?”

Renjun asked.

“Are you leaving, Jeno-hyung?”

Chenle added.

“Are  _ you _ going to die?”

Jisung grinned, and Mark almost snorted again.

“No! I mean-”

“We’re still in NCT.”

Jaemin commented. Jeno gave up. They snickered, but it quickly died down. Their grins were quickly replaced by sad smiles. They stood up and shared their last group hug as Dream. Soon, Mark’s phone started beeping -  _ 0:00 _ , the clock said.

“Happy Graduation Day.”

Dream greeted Mark. Mark could only give them an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry. I wish I was a little younger so we could stay together a little longer.”

He heaved a sigh. They broke the hug, Dream’s first hug with Mark. Mark patted their shoulders.

“I entrust Dream to you. Now let me tuck you guys in.”

Donghyuck tilted his head to the side.

“You’re not sleeping with us?”

“It seems fitting, isn’t it?”

Mark only smiled and pushed them in their rooms. They looked at each other warily, but did not oppose their hyung’s decision. One by one, Mark tucked them in their beds and patted their head for a good night. When they were all tucked in, Mark bid farewell to the dorm and left the room with a sigh.

“Yo Dream, do your best and fighting…”

**Author's Note:**

> i love dream, honestly.
> 
> but i also love angst (not entirely obvious in watch her grow, if you read that tkrb fic) and this unit gives me so uch angst feels.
> 
> and i need to write them down.
> 
> this is part 1! or maybe part 1. it depends if i get sad enough again to write. part 2 will be 00 line, and maybe a part 3 for chensung.
> 
>  
> 
> work not checked so if there are any errors, please dont hesitate to point them out! im too tired haha-


End file.
